Why I won’t hear the ‘truth’ of MAGA

I am asked on occasion, in the context of being a Trump “hating” liberal Democrat socialist RINO, why I’m not open to at least considering the truths espoused by today’s “conservative” Republicans, the MAGA clan of mostly white evangelical Christians, those dedicated to putting America first, who believe their election was stolen in 2020 based solely on the word of the man now living in Mar-a-Lago who insists he ought still be living in the house Joe Biden now abides.

I’ll answer the question, but first I’d like to clarify that I considered myself a moderate Republican until 2016, when the GOP sold its soul to a con artist. I am a heathen; I see no need to engage in dogma to appease an entity in order that I be a moral human being; I don’t need the threat of eternal damnation to follow any narrow path of righteousness and I think hope is simply prayer without invoking the supernatural.

I do not hate Donald Trump, only that so many in our nation seem to revere and support a con man who betrayed his oath of office and launched the greatest assault on this nation’s constitution since August 24, 1814. Trump is, in my opinion, the worst and most dangerous world leader since Adolph Hitler. He will run in 2024, and zealots could well elect him.

Like the Germans who dared express such sentiments in 1933, I fear like-minded Americans are at similar risk today. Despots won’t long tolerate a free press or honest opposition.

That said, here is why I refuse to be “open minded” or give credence to the arguments of Trump and his stalwarts.

This is not a nation founded on religion. This is a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal, all endowed with the same inalienable rights. To life. To liberty. The pursuit of happiness.

White, red. Men, women. Black, yellow … Baptist. Jew, gay. Natives, immigrants, slaves brought to these shores from Africa against every ideal espoused by Christianity. We are one.

It’s funny. Trump and today’s conservatives, like those who sought to divide this union in 1861 so as to preserve the blessings and benefits of slavery, appear to shun evidence and refute documented fact with conjecture and speculation.

They embrace the idea that because they conceived it, their ideas merit serious consideration, that we trust and accept unfounded narrative as undisputed truth.

Sorry, kids. It doesn’t work that way. Provide proof, not conjecture.